Finish the damn thing right....Especially if you want Megabucks for it!!

To stay up on prices and other trends I follow Hemmings Motor News, the Barrett-Jackson Auctions, and some websites that specialize in Musclecars. One thing that always amazes me is people will spend umpteen thousands of dollars "Restifying" something, and then leave one glaring flaw. A few examples- #1. I saw a 1970 Charger for sale. The seller admitted it was a clone. It was originally a 318 car, but the owner had transplanted a 426 Mopar Performance crate Hemi, a 4-speed, and a Dana 60 rear end into it. It had a "Pistol-Grip" Hurst shifter and was done up like an R/T. It was very nicely done, and he was asking $79,000 for it. Now that may seem overpriced, but when you factor in that a "Real" 1970 Hemi Charger in excellent shape will sell for double or even triple that, it's actually not a bad deal if you can afford it and want a Hemi Charger. However-what stood out like a sore thumb to me was it had 4-wheel manual drum brakes!!!  Would you pay 80 grand for a 4,000 lb car with a 465 hp engine that didn't have disc brakes? The killer thing is-a "Real" Hemi R/T would almost certainly have front disc brakes from the factory. And Just Brakes, and other companies sell drum to disc conversion kits for Mopar "B" bodies that include the spindles, rotors, calipers, master cylinder and booster, and the brake lines, for about $800 bucks!!!  On an $80,000 car that's 1 percent of the cost. I mean-did the builder get near the end of the project and go-"Damn!" "I've got 15 grand in the base car, 15 grand in the crate Hemi, another 5 in the tranny and rear end, and another 5 in bodywork and paint." "That's 40 grand and a ton of man hours in this thing and I think I can sell it for 80k and double my money." "Or worst-case scenario give it away for 60K and still make a 20 grand profit." "But  I'll be damned if I'll spend another $800 for a disc brake conversion." "Screw the brakes."  Is that logical thinking?  # 2. Was a 1968 SS396 Chevelle. It was nice, and it had a GMPP 454HO crate engine in it, a Muncie 4-speed, a 12 bolt posi rear end, and front disc brakes. It was red with black interior, and it was nicely done. And the asking price was $39,000.  Except it didn't have power steering. Huh? If you've ever tried to park a Chevrolet vehicle with a heavy Rat motor on the front end and NO power steering, you'll know what I'm talking about. Again- Summit Racing sells brand new GM power steering boxes for about $350 and brand new pumps for about $150. So it would have cost $500 to put power steering on this car and make it right. Or if he wanted to he probably could have found any '68-77 GM "A" body-in a junkyard  ( which includes Chevelles, Monte Carlos, Cutlasses, LeMans, Centurys, and all mid-size wagons ) and got the whole shebang for $200!!  Again-I wouldn't pay 40 grand for a Rat-motored Chevelle with no power steering and a non-original engine. Especially when on the very same website there were two other pristine 1968 SS396s-one a 4-speed and the other an automatic that both had power steering and NUMBERS-MATCHING engines and were priced at $43,000 and $47,000 repectively. Whatever the guy spent restoring it, he couldn't spend another 3-400 bucks putting power steering on it and making it nicer to drive and easier to sell? Especially when your asking numbers-matching prices for a car with a bastard engine!!     #3. Was a 1968 Pontiac GTO. It was a 400 / TH400 model, red with red interior, and it had front disc brakes, the hood tach, and the Hurst Dual / Gate shifter in the console and factory air. The asking price was $29,995. Except not only was the A/C not functional, it was missing the compressor and all the hoses!! Hello?!!  Your asking 30 grand for a car that the air doesn't work on, and is missing the compressor?!  Are you kidding me??  Here's where I have to quote comedian Ron White-"You can't fix stupid."  A couple weeks later I see the car is still for sale-except the price has dropped to $24,995!!  I know that even paying a professional A/C shop 100 bucks an hour labor and retail for the parts, that he could have got the A/C fixed for less than a grand.  Even if the condenser and reciever dryer had to be replaced as well and the system converted to R134, it couldn't have cost more than $1,500 to do, parts and labor. I think that would have been a much smarter move than lowering the price 5 grand.  Because even at 25K-people are going to bitch- and rightly so-You want me to pay $25,000 for a car that needs a major repair?  And again-on the same website there dozens of other '68-70 GTOs for sale in the $20-30K range that were in the same or better condition and didn't need any work. And you wonder why yours isn't selling?  What are these people thinking?  Depending on what it is, you can sell a musclecar for 5, 10 or even 15 grand that "Needs Work". But anything your trying to sell for 25 or 35 or 50 grand better be excellent, because buyers can find 50 more just like it, priced lower simply by going on the internet. On the other hand that's where the term "Buyer Beware" came from. Mastermind